They don’t call it March Madness for nothing.
Oregon came into the NCAA tournament losing five of its last six games, but when the Big Dance comes around, that doesn’t matter a whole lot.
Sedona Prince scored 22 points and Nyara Sabally added 15 points and nine rebounds as the 6-seed Ducks upset 3-seed Georgia 57-50 to move on to the Sweet 16.
“It makes me wanna cry because ever since the forth grade, I’ve seen players celebrate these kind of moments in March and how amazing it is to see,” Prince said in her postgame remarks.
“I saw a video of us hugging and that describes what we both went through,” she said of her relationship with Sabally. “When I came here we were both so broken; we didn’t know if we were going to play basketball again. Now leading this team to the Sweet 16 is incredible.”
Coming into the season, Kelly Graves would have been happy with nearly anything that occurred during this crazy season, but another trip to the Sweet 16 might have been a dream.
Oregon returned just one starter in Erin Boley and the rest of the roster had little to no experience in the NCAA tourney. And the Ducks are playing without point guard Te-Hina Paopao.
Missing their highly-touted freshman might not have meant a whole lot against a smaller South Dakota team, but against a physical Georgia squad, Paopao’s absence was going to be felt.
Or so it would seem.
It was a physical matchup, but the Ducks were up to the challenge.
More importantly, they were able to stay out of foul trouble.
Oregon’s height inside bothered the Bulldogs, especially in the second half.
Sabally and Prince harassed UGA 6-4 center Jenna Staiti. She did score 18 points, but it might have been the toughest 18 points she’s scored this season. Oregon made her earn every single point on the scorecard.
Offense was a problem for both teams.
Only four Ducks made it into the scoring column. Taylor Mikesell scored 11 and Boley added nine points. That was it. It was on the defensive end where Oregon won this game.
The Ducks’ switching zones confused Georgia most of the day and the Dogs’ couldn’t get their outside shooting going enough to pull Oregon out of its zone. UGA made just one three-pointer on 13 attempts. The Ducks forced 14 turnovers and was nearly even on the boards with the Bullldogs holding a slim 35-34 advantage.
It was a close one throughout as both teams went back and forth. Georgia held a six-point lead in the first half and the Ducks held a seven-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
Midway through the fourth, Georgia erased that seven-point deficit and took a 45-44 lead. Graves called a timeout and Oregon found its offensive rhythm again by going inside to Prince on three straight possessions. Once Prince went to work and got things settled down, it was Sabally’s six straight points that helped Oregon pull away, turning a 48-48 game into a 54-48 lead with less than a minute to go and that was all she wrote.
“Before the fourth quarter, Nyara and I talked and said we are going to the Sweet 16 in our first year,” Prince said. “We came out and she dominated. Our teammates allowed us to get good post ups and made amazing entry passes. It was just a collective effort of we’re going to get this.”
Now the Ducks will face Louisville March 28 at 4 pm on ESPN.